I wheeze, so I take a blast of the inhaler. Normally that would be that but even if I am completely inactive, I will start wheezing again within the hour. After 2 hours it becomes unbearable and I have to blast my inhaler again. The wheezing clears, only to come back again after an hour. Been like this for a week.

And here''s the long version:

...a little background:

I am a 31-year old male who has had asthma since age 5. The only regular medication has been the reliever inhaler. I never took the preventers very regularly (Becotide et al). I am averagely active: some bike-riding, a little sport now and again. In my adult years I felt my asthma has been relatively mild, compared to the attacks I used to get as a child. I still needed almost daily salbutamol (sometimes branded Ventolin) until I quit smoking 2 years ago (I stupidly smoked from age 16 to 29).

At the doctors'', I had some tests where I blow into a tube reader and get pricked in my arm for allergies. The doctor concluded my asthma was actually quite severe and I was severely allergic to all kinds of tree, plant, leave, pollen stuff. As well as dog/cat hairs and strangely even rye bread.

Since I stopped smoking, which was generally a roll-yer-own 5 to 10 per day habit, I have been wheezing a whole lot less, sometimes going one or two weeks without needing a single blast from my inhaler...unheard of for me.

But now, all of a sudden my asthma is really bad. I developed a bronchitis-type cough around the end of February. So I needed the inhaler more than usual anyway. As the coughing finally stopped, the Spring was starting, and with it, blocked nose and lots of sneezing. Since last weekend I am experiencing a worrying condition:

I wheeze, so I take a blast of the inhaler. Normally that would be that but even if I am completely inactive, I will start wheezing again within the hour. After 2 hours it becomes unbearable and I have to blast my inhaler again. The wheezing clears, only to come back again after an hour.

This has happened all week, and is waking me up several times during the night too. My chest feels very sore, not because of any recent coughing, but because of the constant wheezing. I feel weak and would rather take lifts than climb stairs. I also realise I have used my inhaler a hell of a lot recently.

Another issue is that I am working on a project in Prague, Czech Republic. This project started in January and goes on until June. My hotel apartment is clean. But it means getting any kind of decent medical advice might be tricky, because of language issues mostly I guess. I normally live in Berlin, Germany.

Being such a long-term asthma sufferer means I have a very good idea what my asthma is and how I control it (at least I think I do, I am open to being totally wrong tho''). So this current condition is a little worrying as I don''t remember anything like this, perhaps as a small child maybe.

My asthma just started to become worse. I believe it's because of springtime. I rarely wheeze and if I do, I use a rescue inhaler, xopenex. So that I don't get too use to using the rescue inhaler, I get prescribed Xopenex Solution in .63 mg vials that I can put in my nebulizer. This way I have control over how much of this medication I use. I use sterile hypertonic saline in the nebulizer with about 2 to 4 drops from a vial of the Xopenex mixed together. The sea salt helps me to expel the mucous, while the little bit of Xopenex opens up my bronchioles so that I can breathe. If you use Xopenex or Albuterol constantly, it won''t be as effective as is true with any prescription medication.

I refuse to take steroid inhalers as I believe they make you worse and too much of a rescue inhaler precipitated horrible anxiety attacks. I believe anxiety can also constrict your bronchioles which in turn will cause wheezing. Try to belly breathe when your breathing is good so that you can exercise your lungs. Too many people breath shallow breaths and our body needs oxygen everywhere. I am so glad you quit smoking, you wlll of course have to detox from that as well as your lungs probably still have nicotine on them. I smoked years ago, but quit in 1983, thank God. Also I use a natural inhaler from Spain that I put in my nebulizer (often instead of the rescue inhaler) It is call Refensal and it works immediately, at least for me it did. Allergies abound right now, so I wouldn't be too concerned, just wise.
Good luck. I hate asthma wheezing so I know how you feel. Please don''t smoke! It will get better. Also, stay away from dairy products! That will create more mucous and more wheezing than ever. I quit all cheese and milk many moons ago (cheese a year ago) and it really helped a lot. We are the only mammals that drink another mammals milk. When you think about it, it's quite gross. Read the real reason why the famous flojo died who ironically, was a spokesperson for milk and the famous milk moustache!